Melbourne will be the first Australian city to trial Uber Air

Ride-sharing for the sky? You better believe it. Melbourne has been chosen as the first city outside the US to trial Uber’s new aerial ridesharing service Uber Air.

Uber Air operates much the same as regular Uber, except you’re hailing an electric aircraft known as an eVTOL. These aircrafts are made for short-distance air travel, seeing as they take off and land vertically, much like a helicopter does.

The only catch is you’ll only be able to travel directly between a network of landing pads called Skyports. The idea is that they will be set up at major Victorian landmarks and events, meaning it’s feasible you’ll be able to rock up at the Australian Open via Uber Air sometime in the future.

This ambitious ride-sharing platform will begin demonstrator flights at the end of next year before launching commercial flights in 2023. Stay tuned.

Rebecca Russo is the Editor of Time Out Melbourne and joined Time Out in 2017.

She's a born and bred Melburnian who likes film, travelling and the great outdoors. In addition to her work at Time Out, Rebecca has written for Junkee, AWOL, The Cusp, Fashion Journal, Faster Louder and Tone Deaf, and spent her uni days volunteering for youth radio stations. Her words have appeared in print, online and in the sky! Just kidding, that skywriter paraphrased her to shit.